When I lived alone several years back, I wouldn’t even generate one plastic bag’s worth of waste. And I don’t mean a garbage size bag — I always used leftover plastic bags that found their way into my apartment, typically your average plastic bag that you would get from a grocery store.

Now that I live in a house with my girlfriend, we barely generate more waste than that. And now since we use reusable bags for shopping, we’ve turned to using other plastic that comes into the house for garbage bags. An empty bread bag or a produce bag does just fine as a garbage bag for a couple days, and also keeps the house from smelling and attracting flies since a regular size garbage bag would last all week.

But I’d say over two weeks we generate maybe two plastic bags worth, barely enough to fill up the bottom 20% of the garbage bin. So my thoughts are still the same, how does a single family home generate an overflowing bin of trash in two weeks?

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1. Too much waste in businesses and restaurants
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3. Biodegradable and Eco Friendly Trash Bags

Photo credit: makelessnoise

The other day I saw an article about big city water ratings in the United States, and it really got me thinking how sad it is that clean, fresh water is so hard to find. The article was brought to my attention at a good time, as just the other day I watched a program on the History Channel (I think) that spoke of the deterioration of the public infrastructure here in this country. This show was more broad in its content than just public water, but in addition to describing how the public water infrastructure is badly in need of repair, it also described roads, bridges and highway systems that are also in need of repair and in some cases close to failing.

In the article, San Diego -my current city of residence- was ranked 91 out of 100 in terms of water quality. There were 31 different pollutants found in the water since 2004, and 17 chemicals which exceeded health guidelines. This story is not new, as there are always cases of poor water quality surfacing around the country, as well as around the world.

But the thing that strikes me is just how apathetic people are about this. Good, clean water is the one thing that every single person absolutely needs for survival, and it seems that there is barely a place on Earth where the water has not yet somehow been tainted. People look around and see that two thirds of the planet is made up of water, so they see that there is no problem. And if you tell them that it is mostly all polluted, they just assume that modern technology can solve the problems. But it doesn’t seem to strike them as outrageous that in just a few hundred years of industry, we have managed to create a problem of epic proportion.

Sure, here in the US we are lucky that we get moderately clean water that comes out of our tap, and yes, there are some remote places in the country left where the water is clean and potable. But those places are getting more and more scarce. And when we have to start questioning the safety of our public water infrastructure as well, it certainly doesn’t paint a pleasant picture.

I mentioned that people think modern technology can solve these problems of deteriorating water quality, and to some extent it can. We can take toilet water and turn it to tap water, we can desalinate the ocean and make it fresh, but let me say, as someone who grew up drinking well water from 400 feet beneath my house, there is nothing like a fresh glass of real water that is clean, pure, and tasteless.

Another article I saw the other day described a scenario where there at one time was a small country stream and ecosystem which has subsequently filled in and paved over to build a housing complex. To me, hearing about and seeing these things is sickening. People need to learn before it’s too late to they can’t just keep destroying these natural systems, and more to the point, we need to start protecting our water sources before it is too late.

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1. City of San Diego tells us to conservere water, then they waste it
2. Water Conservation – A letter to the city
3. Plastic water filters and BPA

For my part, I always bring my reusable bags when I go shopping, and I even go so far as to use an empty bread loaf bag to pick up dog poop rather than throw it out unused. These days when I make my lunch I reuse one ziplock bag for several weeks, rather than dispose of it daily, and I also use a tupperware to pack my sandwich and vegetables. Right there, assuming that I make lunch 3 days (and eat out 2) per week, multiplied over 49 weeks (52 minus a measly 3 for vacation), that would ordinarily be 294 bags if I used one for chips or snack, and one for sandwich. But typically I reuse one bag for three or four weeks in a row before it becomes too nasty, and my use of a tupperware removes the need for half of them right away. So that puts me down to only 37 per year for 147 days of lunch. Not great, but a significant reduction from average.

But we all know that you can be the most efficient person in the world, and it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the waste of a business. So I now have a way to save another 245 plastic bags per year by doing nothing. How do I do this? I realized a year or so ago that the cleaning people swap out the bag in the trashcan at my desk if there is anything it.

So the solution? It’s simple. I bring my trash to the office kitchen to dispose of it. And just like that, I don’t use my trash can and they don’t change the bag. (I’ve experimented to ensure that this is the case.) Just like that 245 bags removed from the landfill.

So above and beyond the hundreds (likely thousands) of plastic bags I save per year by carrying my reusable shopping bags and implementing these simple strategies, I now can include another 500 bags (a low estimate combining lunch and work strategy) that I am saving from our landfills.

If every person made these three simple adjustments, we could save hundreds of thousands (probably millions) of plastic bags from the landfills. Even at a small company of 20 people, these three virtually unnoticeable lifestyle changes would save 10,000 bags from our landfills over one year.

As you can see, making a difference is not that hard.

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Just a heads up, these links below take you to Amazon, as much as I’d love for you to head over there and buy stuff so I can make a few bucks, keep an eye on the prices, check some of the third party sellers on Amazon for the same products. I don’t know why some of the listed prices are so expensive

Cleaning Products

• Seventh Generation Dish Soap
  • 2nd runner up Ecover Natural Dishwashing Liquid, but it doesn’t foam as nicely which makes you use more
• Seventh Generation Toilet Bowl Cleaner
• Ecover Dishwasher Powder or tablets
• Green Works (yes I know it’s a Clorox product, but what can I say, it works. I also use a water/vinegar mixture)

Personal Hygiene

• All of Dr Bronners Soaps
• Avalon Organics Shaving Cream
• Earth Science Tea Tree/Lavendar Deodorant
• Desert Essence Thoroughly Clean Face Wash
• Lily of the Desert Aloe 80 Organics Shampoo
  & Conditioner
• Seventh Generation Baby Wipes
• Avalon Organics Lotion
• Tom’s of Maine or Desert Essence Tea Tree Toothpaste
• Desert Essence Tea Tree Oil or Blemish Stick

I’d like to note that I have found a few good cheap soaps (bar, hand, and washing machine soap) at Trader Joe’s. I know TJs is debatable, but when I look at the ingredients they seem to be ok. That said, I’m looking for a new all purpose hand soap that is not outrageously expensive, so feel free to comment.

What green products do you use?

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A few weeks ago, the ball park at the Rec Center near my house was watering at 11:30 AM, which is prohibited under the new water usage restrictions which prohibit outdoor watering between 10AM and 6PM. Maybe it’s just me, but being that the rec centers are run by the city, I would expect them to be following their own rules. So I went ahead and called the hotline that allows you to report those abusing the waternig restrictions. When I told the woman that the rec center was watering, I think I caught a chuckle from her, hopefully she saw the irony.

Then the other morning after a run, I saw different sprinklers at the same rec center that were shooting water all over the sidewalk, which I don’t believe is technically against the new rules, but again, I would expect the city to be practicing what they are preaching to the public. In fact this exact scenario is one of the things they are pushing in their “Waste No Water” campaigns. In fairness, this time the watering was at least happening in the early morning, so maybe they at least adjusted the schedules.

Also, although I don’t believe that the city has any jurisdiction over CalTrans, everyone knows they are a huge water user (4th largest), and it’s been well documented that they excessively water the freeway shoulders, even in the rain. And still after the water cuts, just last month I saw them watering at 9:30 AM. Granted, this is not technically prohibited, but I still take issue with this because especially lately, by 9:30 it’s already over 80 degrees and rising, so I’m pretty sure a lot of this water will get wasted.

So what do I have to say? I say come on San Diego, get it together. Though I did hear that city water usage is down 20% from last year, which is great, I think we can be doing better. Start by watching what’s going on in the city around you. While I do applaud your efforts to educate the people, I think there could be even better results if you focused your efforts on the big users, which are businesses, the city itself, and also the contractors you have working for you. Would it be impossible to work with CalTrans to put in native freeway shoulders instead of iceplant and change the watering schedules? Then another nice step would be to stop planting grass everywhere, since almost everyone knows San Diego is not really tropical, stop pretending it is and start planing native gardens instead of lush grasses at public buildings.

Related posts:

1. Water Conservation – A letter to the city
2. San Diego drought tolerant landscaping
3. Clean water should be taken more seriously

Thanks to Matador for pointing me to this series of photos, “Intolerable Beauty, Portraits of American Mass Consumption” by Chris Jordan. It definitely makes you think about how much we as a society use, and more importantly, waste. In addition to this photo of cell phones, there are photos of enormous piles of cigarette butts, old hard drives, old cars, sawdust, bottles, and more. Go over and check them out.

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Image credit: Letz Design

I figured I’d share interesting article about drought tolerant landscaping, known as Xeriscaping, that I found via my Ode Magazine Newsletter. It’s especially relevant since I live in San Diego at a house with a lawn that uses irrigation. It’s not very detailed about specific plants that can be used for making changes, but it is definitely food for thought.

View article here: Yanking out lawns saves water and money

Interesting side note: I started thinking about writing this post the other day while at work. Ironically, as I was pondering drought tolerant landscapes and the water shortages and new water rationing rules here in San Diego, I looked out the window into Petco Park to see them watering the dirt in preparation for the night’s baseball game. My office is located in such a position that we can see down into the ball field, and I think based on what we see it’s safe to say that they are one of the biggest water wasters around. Even next to the ball park is a public park, my guess under the same management, and it is watered so frequently that you sometimes can’t even walk in the grass because it’s so squishy from over watering. Nice job city of San Diego.

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1. City of San Diego tells us to conservere water, then they waste it
2. Water Conservation – A letter to the city
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Photo credit: Kenn Wilson

…By only eating foods produced in their community, region or country, adherents, known as locavores, aim to reduce pollution and support ethical farming practices.

With more and more people defecting from supermarket to farmer’s market, a number of websites have appeared to help users find local food in their own communities…

Here are some great resources about local eating:

• Local Harvest
• Sustainable Table
• Food Routes
• Eat Well Guide
• Foodzie
• Bigbarn

Thanks to Matador Life for this info, See the full article here

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Photo credit: cizauskas

I grew up in the Northeast, where there were a lot of microbreweries, so I got past drinking Bud and Coors pretty early on. Since I’ve been with my girlfriend who used to work at one of the best beer pubs in San Diego, I’ve been introduced to even better beer. I’ve since learned two things about San Diego that I didn’t know before. 1) It is home to one of the biggest craft beer markets in the country and 2) it is well known for producing some of the hoppiest beers in the country. My college days were spent in breweries back east, and now almost ten years later I have gotten my second schooling on beer; not in breweries but in brew pubs, and have been introduced to some of the tastiest beers that not only San Diego, but the entire West Coast, has to offer.

Being environmentally minded though, the one thing I noticed was that options for organic craft beers, or at least beers produced with organic hops, was limited. But now thanks to a very informative write up by Wend Magazine, I have learned a lot more about craft brewing, and most interestingly, how more often than not craft brewing can be inherently sustainable due to its very nature, even if it is not certified organic. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t like to see more organic brews out there, but supporting local and small businesses that in turn also buy and support local is better than the alternatives.

Check out the full Wend Mag article about sustainable, craft brewing here

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I think this is great, it promotes self sustainability, local and healthy eating. Congrats to the Obama’s for doing this and setting a good example for the rest of us.

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